Wheels; new bike.

Michael432000

I am now middle aged (how did that happen?) and can still do a good turn.

And my only remaining (14 gear) bicycle will soon need replacing.

I am still a lean 10 stone in weight and have always gone very easy on my equipment, I never use the brakes unless I really need to and never run squeaky wheels.

Now this is very hard to believe, but I am still using a pair of Mavic MA40 wheels with Mavic hubs that I purchased almost 25 years ago.

They have done approximately 110,000 miles of training, touring around the globe and commuting. Superb or what?

They are still almost perfectly tensioned and true.

They were built by Monty at Condor Cycles in London and have only been properly re-trued once.

Front is steel 36 spoke cross- spoke. Rear is steel 32 spoke double butted cross-spoke.

I am considering a bottom of the range Scott Addict; old stock would be fine.

I see Evans Cycles are selling the new R3 for £1700 but I don’t fancy 30 gears, just means more problems. The best things are usually simple.

Not sure about the Mavic wheels though, I’ve read some bad reviews about failures on hills.

Good reliable wheels anyone?

styxd

A good set of handbuilt wheels. Avoid factory built wheels (i.e. shimanos/fulcrum/mavic et.c)

Try Harry Rowland or Just Riding Along. They'll probably be able to advise you. But some decent double butted spokes, probably 32 of them, built onto some ambrosio or mavic open pro rims with hubs of your choice, perhaps PMP?

styxd

Infact, something like this: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... osio-31463

ugo.santalucia

Michael432000 wrote:

I am now middle aged (how did that happen?) and can still do a good turn.

And my only remaining (14 gear) bicycle will soon need replacing.

I am still a lean 10 stone in weight and have always gone very easy on my equipment, I never use the brakes unless I really need to and never run squeaky wheels.

Now this is very hard to believe, but I am still using a pair of Mavic MA40 wheels with Mavic hubs that I purchased almost 25 years ago.

They have done approximately 110,000 miles of training, touring around the globe and commuting. Superb or what?

They are still almost perfectly tensioned and true.

They were built by Monty at Condor Cycles in London and have only been properly re-trued once.

Front is steel 36 spoke cross- spoke. Rear is steel 32 spoke double butted cross-spoke.

I am considering a bottom of the range Scott Addict; old stock would be fine.

I see Evans Cycles are selling the new R3 for £1700 but I don’t fancy 30 gears, just means more problems. The best things are usually simple.

Not sure about the Mavic wheels though, I’ve read some bad reviews about failures on hills.

Good reliable wheels anyone?

Wow,

where are you based? Are you sure you want to leave your bike to get a frankly boring Scott Addict? I have a lot of experience in refurbishing period bikes and I am pretty sure your bike can get back to new with a bit of TLC. I've got bearings and other period spares. As for the wheels, I can rebuild if the rims/spokes are tired (and they deserve to be at 110K miles!). I also have a lovely pair of Gipiemme period hubs which go on 126 mm dropouts bike like (probably) yours.
You would be lucky if the Scott Addict did 20K miles...

PM me if interested, I can send you some photos of vintage lightweight I restored. Just yesterday I went out on my 1983 Super Record equipped bike... still faster up the hills than the 2012 Super Record... no need to upgrade yet...

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

where are you based? Are you sure you want to leave your bike to get a frankly boring Scott Addict?

+1! There'll be quite a few of us who will happily take your old bike off your hands for a madly low sum whilst at the same time wondering what is possessing you to part with it!

Mind you, I doubt I'll ever sell any of my bikes.......

Michael432000

Thank you for your very interesting and unexpected replies. They’ve definitely had an impact.

And thanks for the reality check. Maybe my eyes were getting the better of me.

Thanks for the advice and the link styxd. I will definitely steer clear of factory built wheels. Though I don’t think I’ll ever have a set of wheels as good as these built by Monty.

Boring Scott Addict? Lol. I enjoyed that.

I just can’t believe how my trusty old machine keeps going. 110k miles is a rather conservative estimate, it’s probably a lot more. It’s been over endless mountains including a 5000-meter monster in Argentina/Chile, and through lots of deserts and jungles. Ridden across countries like Colombia many times. I do a 22-mile daily round commute to work at a good pace.

I’ve changed the chain and sprockets loads of times but hardly touched anything else. Can’t remember when I changed the bottom bracket or headset, seems like centuries ago, they seem indestructible. And I used to race, so despite being light I can still put a lot of force through those cranks.

And those wheels are incredible. Only problem is a bit of play in the front hub and the rims of course are pretty worn. But still perfectly tensioned and true. I’ve only ever broken one spoke when I didn’t see and hit a speed bump in Mexico. Boy I miss those trips.

I have had trouble getting decent 7 speed blocks, in fact I have a 6 speed shimano on there at the moment. SRAM chains are still good but wish I had stocked up with a pile of gold ones 20 years ago. They seemed quite cheap in those days.

Yes 126mm dropouts. I may contact you at some point. Thank you ugo.santalucia.

Hi Rolf F. yes, I’m a bit miffed because a couple of years ago I sold my 20-year old Condor 531c racing bike for a snip. Had to get rid of it due to lack of space in new flat. The guy who brought that got a real bargain. It was in almost pristine condition. Wish I had kept it now. Couldn’t buy a set of wheels for what I sold that for.

balthazar

MA40's were known for failing with fatigue fractures around the spoke holes, a failure which manifested as a visible crazing early on. The cause was the decorative hard anodized surface finish, which the otherwise identical MA2 didn't have, and consequently didn't suffer from. You've been lucky! Still, those wheels aren't museum pieces yet and could well have replacement rims when yours (finally) wear out. The spokes, proven in use, are fine indefinitely.

The difficulty would be finding MA2/MA40 rims, long discontinued, unless Open Pro or similar Ambrosio rims use the same spoke lengths. My guess is not, but perhaps somebody here would confirm.

Your account casts into interesting perspective, the low expectations elsewhere. In my mind, we should expect such a service life from bike components, instead of applauding it as a surprising curiosity. However, I do applaud your appreciation of a time served bike, and agree with the other comments that it should live on.

ugo.santalucia

Seven speed freewheels can be bought from Nigel at Campyoldy, give him a ring, he likes a good chat.
It seems to me that's the bike of a lifetime, not worth replacing it with a factory built (and frankly crap) bike. Keep it, there are plenty of people able to give it a good service (including myself... ) for very reasonable money. Spares can still be found from Nigel, at jumbles around the country and on E-bay.
I have a Marchisio 7 speed (14-26) which I would happily swap for a 6 speed with a 25 or 26 sprocket.

As you say, those headsets and BB were designed to last forever, modern ones are designed to last two years at best. Same for other parts, I have a 1958 Gran Sport derailleur which still performs as if it was just out of the box